Free e-filing for tax returns

How to find free tax-filing services, online and in-person

Seventy percent of American taxpayers — more than 100 million people — are eligible to file their tax returns for free, says Timothy D. Hugo, executive director of the Free File Alliance, a coalition between the IRS and a group of tax-software companies.

The links on the IRS’s free-file page aren’t live yet (www.irs.gov), but they’re due to be unveiled Jan. 30. And when they do appear, they’ll lead to a dozen sites where you can prepare your federal income tax return for free. Some sites will even offer free state e-filing.

Free person-to-person help

While you wait for the IRS to launch its free services, you can start looking around for live, face-to-face help. Two major programs offer walk-in centers all over the country: the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance program, and Tax Counseling for the Elderly.

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The VITA program’s volunteers work with taxpayers with income below $51,000, folks who are disabled and members of the military and their families. At the TCE sites, priority is given to those age 60 and over and the disabled. Since they tend to work with lower income and elderly taxpayers, the volunteers know a great deal about the special tax credits and benefits available to these groups. These services are typically set up in community spaces, like schools, libraries, houses of worship, community centers and other places easy for locals to find. VITA and TCE programs have become so popular in some places that volunteers have had to turn people away.

To address that problem, Hugo rallied the Free File Alliance partners. Four of them stepped up to help the VITA program establish a new service. With the help of Intuit, H&R Block, TaxSlayer and FileYourTaxes.com, 300 service sites in 29 states now have do-it-yourself terminals. You can enter your own tax return data, and file your federal and state tax returns for free. You can have a VITA volunteer look over your work before you file it and help you do it correctly.

There is an armed forces version of VITA is called the Armed Forces Tax Council. Volunteers and experts know the special credits, deductions and exclusions available to members of all branches of the armed forces and their families.

To locate the nearest VITA or TCE site, go to the VITA locator tool on IRS.gov (link) or call 800-906-9887. The nearest AARP site can be found on its website (link) or by calling 888-227-7669.

These programs also welcome volunteers. And you don’t need a tax background or education to participate.

Free online filing

When the doors to the Free File Alliance program do open up, expect to find links to the special FFA sites of these companies: 1040NOW, 2nd Story Software, Drake Enterprises, TaxSimple, ezTaxReturn, FileYourTaxes, Free Tax Returns, H&R Block, Intuit, Liberty Tax, OnLine Taxes, TaxHawk, TaxSlayer, Tax Centers of America/Online Tax Pros, and EFileTaxReturns.

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That one-stop overview will tell you about the special features in each company’s FFA offering. All sites cater to those whose adjusted gross incomes are $57,000 or below. The site spells out which ages and additional income levels can use their site, which states they process and are free to e-file, special programs for the military, and so forth. Some services even accept taxpayers with foreign addresses.

Good news for pop-up haters: These sites are free of all advertisements. No upsells are allowed. There are no links to refund-anticipation loans or anything else you don’t need. And there are no fees related to federal refunds, either.

One major advantage of this list is that all of these companies, and software, have been checked out carefully by both the IRS and the Free File Alliance team. Even if you’re using paid software, you can select providers from this list and be assured that the companies are reliable and stable and will protect your very private information.

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